For many people in rural Zambia, getting to work can mean spending hours walking each day. A bicycle can transform that journey, giving people more time to work, rest, support their families and earn a living.
Through our partnership with Care Providers Foundation (CPF) in Zambia, Re-Cycle bikes are sold locally at affordable prices, providing reliable transport for people who need it most. But the impact doesn’t stop with the person who buys a bike. A proportion of the income generated from bike sales is reinvested by CPF into community projects, supporting education, health and access to clean water.
Cutting the journey to work
Elvis Mupelwa, 36, lives in Kawama Hillside in Kapiri-Mposhi and works as a cleaner at a local clinic six kilometres from his home.
Before buying his Re-Cycle bike in June 2025, Elvis walked to work every day. The journey took around one and a half hours each way.
Now, he can cycle to work in just 30 minutes.
His bike has also become useful beyond his daily commute. In his spare time, Elvis uses it to travel to village markets up to 18 kilometres away to buy food and other essentials.
For Elvis, the bicycle has given him back valuable time while making it easier to access work, markets and everyday necessities.
Four hours of walking reduced to 80 minutes
For Wisdom Mwewa, 32, a bicycle has made an even bigger difference.
Wisdom lives in Ndeke Compound in Kapiri-Mposhi and works as a handyman at a pig farm around 10 kilometres from town. Before buying his bicycle in March 2026, he walked to work every day, taking around two hours each way.
That meant spending approximately four hours every day simply travelling to and from work.
After saving for six months, Wisdom was able to buy a Re-Cycle bicycle. He can now cycle to work in around 40 minutes, reducing his daily travel time by two hours and 40 minutes.
That extra time means he can rest after work and have more time for other responsibilities.
One bike can have a much wider impact
The benefits of these bikes don’t end with the people who buy them.
CPF uses income generated from the sale of Re-Cycle bikes to fund community development projects. This includes peer health education programmes in schools, providing sanitary towels to girls so they can continue attending school, and rehabilitating boreholes to improve access to clean water in rural communities.
This creates a powerful cycle of impact: a donated bike from the UK becomes affordable transport for someone in Zambia, while the income from its sale helps fund projects that benefit entire communities.
Your unwanted bike could be part of that cycle.
By donating your bike to Re-Cycle, you can help provide affordable, sustainable transport while supporting projects that improve education, health and livelihoods across rural Zambia.
